Rating: 
Summary: It may be my favorite so far----
Review: I walked into a bookstore while waiting for a flight in an airport and, lo and behold, a new Dunning after so many years, AND with my favorite character, Cliff Janeway. I bought it on the spot, paying full price--and sales tax (which my state does not have) because I could not wait. I was not mistaken in doing so. This made my vacation overseas just a little bit better than it would have been. I enjoyed every word. The mystery is interesting, the people well characterized, the historical ones who were real and the fictional ones, "old" and in the present. What a neat book! I really have to read something by Richard Burton. I will probably end up with a new obsession. However, John Dunning is an old obsession and I sure wish he would write faster.
Rating:
Summary: FINNALLY, ANOTHER "CLIFF JANEWAY" NOVEL!!!
Review: It's been almost a decade since the last "Cliff Janeway" novel by John Dunning, but the wait was well worth it. Mr. Dunning's newest book, THE BOOKMAN'S PROMISE, brings back our ex-Denver homicide detective/book dealer in rare form as he seeks to find the murderer of a new friend and information concerning Sir Richard Burton's (legendary Nineteenth Century explorer and author) trip to the United States just before the start of the Civil War. It all begins when Janeway purchases a rare book by Richard Burton in pristine condition and inscribed by Burton to someone named Charlie Warren at an auction. Within weeks, an elderly woman appears at Janeway's bookstore, claiming to be the granddaughter of Charlie Warren and asking Janeway to help her find the missing library of Burton books that were stolen from her family after her grandfather died. As proof of her claim, she presents Janeway with another book by Burton, also in pristine condition and inscribed to her grandfather. This leads Janeway to a book dealer in Baltimore and a dangerous thug who's more than willing to kill in order to stop Janeway in his search. Janeway then heads to Charleston, South Carolina where Richard Burton and Charlie Warren spent several days, supposedly causing the start of the War Between the States. What will Janeway discover and how many people will have to die because of something that happened over 150 years ago? As in the previous two "Janeway" novels (BOOKED TO DIE and THE BOOKMAN'S WAKE), Mr. Dunning creates a marvelous mystery filled with strong character development, suspense, and bare-knuckles action, while at the same time delving into the intriguing world of rare books and what makes one book more valuable than another. Any "Janeway" novel is certainly a special treat for lovers of well-written mysteries and the world of antique books. John Dunning definitely knows his subject matter and manages to make it quite vivid and entertaining. I can't highly recommend this novel enough, or the two previous ones in the series. I sincerely hope Mr. Dunning won't wait as long before presenting his growing legion of fans with his next "Janeway" novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Historical Context Improves This Mystery
Review: John Dunning's Cliff Janeway series is a reliable fare of mysteries set in the world of book-selling and collecting. This one is middle of the road for the series or mysteries in general.
Janeway buys a Richard Burton (19th century explorer, not the actor) book at auction, is interviewed on NPR and then is confronted by an elderly lady who tips him off to a valuable Burton collection "stolen" from her family. He promises to recoup it and the chase is on leading him from Denver to Baltimore to Charleston. Along the way he crosses paths with a psychotic henchman who follows him and his allies.
The mystery is not a terrific one. The solution, sadly, is packed in the end with superpowers of deduction that the reader is not able to share. The muscleman who chases him adds needed tension to the plot, but when all is said and done, he really was not part of the plot in chief - only there to add the tension and some violence.
What improves the book is the historical context of Richard Burton and a diary account of his trip south right before the Civil War. Evidently there were some months missing in biographies of his life when he was in the United States. Dunning has put him in the south with a suspicion that he was spying for England. I wish Mr. Dunning would have given us more on what was historically accurate, theorized and full fiction in his historical note at the end of the book.
All in all this was a pretty good book. As always, the tidbits on book collecting were interesting. Most of the supporting characters to Janeway were good, although the mobster type was a cardboard cutout. An enjoyable read, although not one of Dunning's better efforts.
Rating:
Summary: Cliff Janeway returns!
Review: Leave it to John Dunning to remind modern readers that there was more than just one Richard Burton...not just the 20th century award-winning thespian (and husband to Liz Taylor), but also a fascinating, 19th century explorer, knighted by the British for his anthropological discoveries, his books, and his work as a linguist as he traveled the globe. Dunning weaves flashbacks of Burton's tour of the American south just before the Civil War into his modern-day tale about a hero we've been waiting to see again, rare bookseller and ex-policeman Cliff Janeway.
Janeway, as you may or may not recall, is the centerpiece of two of Dunning's earlier works, which established a mini-cult for readers, proving, once and for all, that there is nothing booklovers love more than reading about books. It has been eight years since Dunning followed the success of Booked To Die, Janeway's first outing, with The Bookman's Wake. Mystery readers around the globe waited somewhat impatiently for Dunning's alter-ego (he, too, sold rare books) to reappear. The wait was worth it.
In The Bookman's Promise, Janeway has purchased a first edition of Sir Richard Burton's, and the rare book leads him on a quest to find a missing collection of Burton's works, and, it's hoped for, a never-published journal about his travels in America with the relative of the woman who claims the books were stolen from her family. Dunning weaves slices of today's quest with exerpts from the old journal, as the men, separated by time and reason, travel the same paths in the American southeast.
Along the way, Janeway gets involved in the struggle between powerful families, suffers the death of a friend, and begins a love affair. With the exception of traveling companions Erin, and Koko - both of whom are somewhat mediocre characters, Dunning populates Janeway's quest not only with fascinating places and glimpses into the past, but with well-drawn supporting characters.
The Bookman's Promise educates as well as entertains, and was well worth the wait!
Rating:
Summary: I just loved it . . just loved it!
Review: Perhaps it was because I was expecting a disaster--after all, an ex-cop turned antique book dealer! Come on! But what I found instead of a joke was a remarkable book with enough twists and turns to keep you busy on a Saturday night! This thing is just fantastic and I have to say that I was mightly impressed with John Dunning's talent as a writer. How does he come up with this stuff? The writing is great--on the same level as Jackson McCrae's "The Bark of the Dogwood" or Boyle's "Water Music," and the plot, pacing, and characters are amazing. I highly, highly, highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: dissapointed
Review: Really enjoyed the first 2 Jameway books a lot!!
This latest story was not up to snuff. I could see no reason at all for the Burton fling in the south, and I wanted it to work!
The Dante character seemed to clown like for Dunnings quality of wrtting.
Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: Some years ago, a bookseller told me that John Dunning had decided not to continue the Cliff Janeway series. I was really sorry, because I had so enjoyed the two Janeway novels. Thus when I saw the announcement of "Bookman's Promise," I was thrilled. I ordered the book and read it at once.What a disappointment. Gone are the details of the rare book world that made "Booked to Die" so fascinating; gone is the careful delineation of Janeway's initially-complex character. In their place is a superficial tough-guy private eye caper, complete with scumbag gangsters (in the rare book world, mind you), macho posturing, and that annoying rapid-fire repartee without which private dicks are apparently not allowed to beat up crooks. According to the bookjacket, Dunning is working on Cliff Janeway #4. But I doubt I'll be reading it, now that Cliff has become just another Spenser clone. I'd suggest that Dunning and Parker collaborate on a cross-over, except that the characters would probably do nothing but trade smart remarks while they punch the crap out of each other.
Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: Some years ago, a bookseller told me that John Dunning had decided not to continue the Cliff Janeway series. I was really sorry, because I had so enjoyed the two Janeway novels. Thus when I saw the announcement of "Bookman's Promise," I was thrilled. I ordered the book and read it at once. What a disappointment. Gone are the details of the rare book world that made "Booked to Die" so fascinating; gone is the careful delineation of Janeway's initially-complex character. In their place is a superficial tough-guy private eye caper, complete with scumbag gangsters (in the rare book world, mind you), macho posturing, and that annoying rapid-fire repartee without which private dicks are apparently not allowed to beat up crooks. According to the bookjacket, Dunning is working on Cliff Janeway #4. But I doubt I'll be reading it, now that Cliff has become just another Spenser clone. I'd suggest that Dunning and Parker collaborate on a cross-over, except that the characters would probably do nothing but trade smart remarks while they punch the crap out of each other.
Rating: 
Summary: Janeway's a loveable lug
Review: The BOOKMAN'S PROMISE is an unusual mystery in a lot of ways. Although the lead character will remind you of Travis McGee in respect to his physical prowess and verbal dexterity, he is also the owner of a bookstore and a book scout.
The story starts when an old woman, Josephine Gallant, asks Cliff Janeway to help her win back her grandfather's Richard Burton collection. Her only clue is that she knows the name of the bookstore, still in business after a hundred years, that had cheated her mother out of the books and papers her grandfather had left for her in his will. She dies but Janeway, an ethical sort, feels obligated to fulfill his promise.
This is where the second unusual element unfolds. Janeway's sidekicks are women. One of them, a former librarian named Koko Bujak, taped Josephine under hypnosis, during which time she regressed to when she was a young girl and would discuss Burton with her grandfather, Charlie Warren. The other woman is a love interest, Erin D'Angelo, a lawyer negotiating for the purchase of Burton's journal.
The action shifts from Denver, to Baltimore, to Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, with lots of ambience along the way.
Dunning uses the hypnosis tapes to introduce us to Charlie Warren and Sir Richard Burton. Surprisingly, this is the dullest part of the book. Nothing much happens. Charlie is suspicious that Burton may be spying for the British, Burton has an affair. That's about it. The modern stuff is highly entertaining, with Dunning adroitly handling plot twists with just enough character development to keep us interested.
You can't go wrong with this one. Dunning keeps you pulling for that big lug Janeway throughout, no matter how brutal his methods.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the wait
Review: The newest Janeway thriller -- the first in almost a decade -- finds the bookman chasing mysteries in two centuries -- and both are winners. The milieu of rare books continues to fuel a specialized kind of novel; very readable and almost as on-target as the first three Janeway stories.
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